Comments for Sarah Shugarshttp://sarahshugars.com
Thu, 03 Jan 2019 12:16:08 +0000hourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9Comment on The ego of public life, part III by Greg Bloomhttp://sarahshugars.com/2019/01/the-ego-of-public-life-part-iii/#comment-120687
Thu, 03 Jan 2019 12:16:08 +0000http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2353#comment-120687Welcome back! Looking forward to revisit this space 🙂
]]>Comment on Irregardless by Nicole Callihanhttp://sarahshugars.com/2015/01/irregardless/#comment-116960
Wed, 02 May 2018 14:40:05 +0000http://sarahshugars.com/?p=995#comment-116960I LOVE this.
]]>Comment on TERFs by jkkelleyhttp://sarahshugars.com/2017/09/terfs/#comment-110442
Wed, 20 Sep 2017 20:47:07 +0000http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2259#comment-110442I agree with you that the conversations need to happen. I think it can push terfs toward a more inclusive stance. However, it is all too easy to vilify their position and that leads to a hardening of positions and, all to clearly, fisticuffs. I have to admit that I find their concern for transgender kids very compelling. It makes me pause to consider their finer points and not rush to fully condemn them.
]]>Comment on TERFs by sshugarshttp://sarahshugars.com/2017/09/terfs/#comment-110440
Wed, 20 Sep 2017 20:25:04 +0000http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2259#comment-110440Thank you for your comments. It is an incredibly divisive topic, and it’s unfortunate to see the feminist community divided when there is so much important work to do. (‘Feminism,’ of course, is also divided along other lines: a lot of mainstream feminism diminishes the voices of women of color, for example).

In some ways, I can relate to positions you raise – no woman should feel social pressure to manipulate her body, and I would definitely prefer to live in a society in which we’ve successfully moved away from narrow, binary understandings of gender.

But there is something troublingly paternalistic – if you’ll excuse the gendered term – in the approach of TERFs. I would not stand for anyone to question my personal choices, to tell me that I’m simply caving to social pressure or that who I am is not really who I am. This is a feeling I imagine most women can relate to: we have worked too hard and fought too long to let society dictate our norms for us. So it baffles me that some women would turn around and use the language and techniques that have been used to oppress women…to oppress other women. It is fine to have concerns, it is fine to have questions, it is fine to not really ‘get’ an experience that is different from your own – but to fundamentally question the legitimacy of someone else’s experience…I find that troubling.

And while you’re right that both sides want equality for women, I really don’t see how we do that without the inclusion of all women. In the States, the dominant voice of the ‘feminist’ movement is white, cis, and upper middle class. That voice is far from representative of all women. I don’t see conversations about the disparities within feminism as a distraction – rather, I don’t see how we can work towards equity without first having those difficult and important conversations.

]]>Comment on TERFs by jkkelleyhttp://sarahshugars.com/2017/09/terfs/#comment-110439
Wed, 20 Sep 2017 19:41:53 +0000http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2259#comment-110439The issue of transwomen is incredibly divisive among feminists, at least in my experience. As I tried to understand the “Terfs” a few issues kept coming to the surface. They are deeply concerned with the pressure placed on people (women) to manipulate their bodies by hormones or surgery to become “true women.” I imagine they would hope for a world in which a woman can express herself without altering her body to fit a gender-stratified norm. Another issue has to do with transgenderism and children. This group feels that to give hormones or to surgically alter a child’s body is effectively child abuse. A child is not ready to make such a shift or understand the implications of their choice. Another issue that “terfs” press is that this entire focus on transgenderism is a distraction from deeper issues and thus further frustrates the work toward equality. It’s a terrible situation. Both sides want equality for women. This issue and issue of rights for sex workers are highly divisive. I hope more voices find their way to the conversation and hopefully find a way to achieve a common goal.
]]>Comment on Labor and Civics by Alain Jehlenhttp://sarahshugars.com/2017/09/labor-and-civics/#comment-110387
Sun, 17 Sep 2017 14:22:49 +0000http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2236#comment-110387The modern equivalent of the Greek idea that workers can’t be citizens is the “philanthropist”: Someone so rich, they no longer care about making money, and instead devote themselves to promoting the common good. There’s a belief that these people, with no experience in the fields they enter with their money, can nonetheless see more clearly and act more effectively than lesser beings.
]]>Comment on Freedom of Speech by Ellinhttp://sarahshugars.com/2017/08/freedom-of-speech/#comment-109393
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 22:35:11 +0000http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2212#comment-109393Sad and true, Sarah!
]]>Comment on Isotta Nogarola by Kevin Dyehttp://sarahshugars.com/2017/05/isotta-nogarola/#comment-107214
Wed, 17 May 2017 09:02:47 +0000http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2170#comment-107214Horrible.
]]>Comment on Deliberation in a Homophilous Network by Kevin Dyehttp://sarahshugars.com/2017/03/deliberation-in-a-homophilous-network/#comment-105309
Wed, 29 Mar 2017 06:46:37 +0000http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2127#comment-105309Sometimes deliberation across boundaries, such as in rapprochement between Turkish and Greek Cypriots must begin in homophilous groups because each side is even unsure as to how to approach the other, what their priorities should be, and how to deal with the backlash of their own people for talking to ‘the enemy.’ I’m wondering if there is a similar broadening perspective we can take on the segmented public sphere we find ourselves in. That there might be an eventual rapprochement. Taking the learning from countries in conflict that have learned to talk to each other and applying it to our own divided situation.
]]>Comment on You’re Probably Wrong: Group Polarization and Going to Extremes by Kevin Dyehttp://sarahshugars.com/2017/02/youre-probably-wrong-group-polarization-and-going-to-extremes/#comment-104655
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 07:13:24 +0000http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2101#comment-104655You write: “Deliberating groups tend towards extremism in the direction of the pre-deliberation median because nobody wants to take the social risk of expressing an unpopular view.” This seems like a paradox – going towards an extreme would not seem to be going towards a median. My understanding of this effect from the literature is that unstructured deliberation tends towards an extreme, while structured deliberation tends towards an average.
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